


The Lighthouse on Lightwood Island

by la_muerta



Series: October 2019 Writing Prompt Insanity [5]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Bittersweet Ending, Ficlet, M/M, SHFallFic Week 3: Eldritch Horror, Tentacle Monsters, Tentacletober Day 19: Protective Tentacles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-19
Updated: 2019-10-19
Packaged: 2020-12-24 03:10:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 614
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21092426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/la_muerta/pseuds/la_muerta
Summary: A strange lighthouse stands alone at the far end of Lightwood Island.





	The Lighthouse on Lightwood Island

**Author's Note:**

  * For [alexanderlightweight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexanderlightweight/gifts).

> Gifted to [alexanderlightweight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexanderlightweight/pseuds/alexanderlightweight) because of our conversation about Alexander Gideon Lighthouse but I'm sorry that my crack fic became angsty D: 
> 
> Inspired in part by [this beautiful art](https://somecallmegin.tumblr.com/post/184670092261/good-job-leading-that-ship-onto-the-rocks) by [somecallmegin](https://somecallmegin.tumblr.com/).

There is a strange lighthouse that stands alone at the far end of Lightwood Island. 

The light in the lighthouse comes on when it gets dark or foggy, even if it's just from a storm - or at least it's supposed to. Everything is automated now, and the lighthouse no longer needs to be manned by a person, but sometimes the light in the lighthouse goes out all on its own for no reason at all - or rather, it goes out when certain ships draw near the island, so that the vessel is doomed to dash itself on the treacherous rocks. But maintenance staff trying to repair the computer and lights will find them working perfectly the next morning, and the ships that meet their untimely end - often with no survivors - will often be found to have been carrying stolen cargo or captained by the kind of scum that should have been hanged ages ago.

The island wasn't always named Lightwood Island. For centuries it had been called Hell's Gate Island, named for the monstrous, misshapen bones that used to wash up on the shore, bones that belonged to no creatures anybody had ever seen before. They could never find a lightkeeper who was willing to stay for more than a few months; it was sort of understandable, since it was a lonely and often thankless job because people only seemed to want to blame the lightkeeper for shipwrecks but never did thank them for the ships that made safe harbour, but most of the lightkeepers quit in a hurry, terrified out of their minds. They say one man's hair even turned white overnight. Eventually, the job was taken by a quiet young man named Alec Lightwood, and he'd manned the lighthouse for sixty-three years without complaint, before passing away peacefully in his sleep one night while he was still on duty. The tiny island had been named after him in recognition of his service. 

Amongst scoundrels and pirates and those who delight in murder on the high seas, however, Lightwood Island has always been known by another name - death.

There are monsters in the deeps that only the men who sail the midnight oceans have seen, creatures the size of mountains with rows of lights in their many arms and a million blinking eyes in their slimy flesh. One such monster makes its home in the waters of Lightwood Island, although it sometimes ventures out to ensnare ships in its tentacles and drag them onto the rocks. This monster is a strange one; it feeds only on hearts that harbour evil thoughts, and at some point it became allies with the lightkeeper, then friends, then something more. When the lightkeeper was alive many an attempt was made to kill him, and when old age finally claimed him every criminal on the sea rejoiced, but not for long. 

The light in the lighthouse still goes dark when the monster leads its prey in, and the monster still guards the lightkeeper who will never leave. And sometimes on moonless nights, a strange creature with great golden eyes rises out of the deeps to look upon the cold stone tower that had been the house of the human he loved; a fragile mortal, but so unafraid, swimming next to him in the endless blue with laughter in his hazel eyes and a smile on his face, and that cloud of unruly hair that had turned from black to grey over the years they'd spent together. 

And the light in the lighthouse flashes a series of dashes and blinks over the dark water, just one word in morse code, over and over again - a name.

_Magnus. Magnus. Magnus. _


End file.
